This invention relates to food trays and more particularly to a food and beverage plate designed so that a user can simultaneously support the plate and a beverage container thereon with a single hand.
The problems of conveniently holding and trying to consume food and drinks at crowded social functions where guests remain standing or do not have tables and chairs upon which to eat, are well known. The problem comes from holding a food plate in one hand and a beverage in the other hand. With both hands occupied, it is difficult, if not impossible for the guests to eat, either through the use of an eating utensil such as a fork or with one's fingers.
To solve the problem of eating in such a situation, a guest will often attempt to balance the beverage upon the food plate held in one hand while at tempting to eat with the other hand. If an upset doesn't occurs, either the beverage container will slide across the plate, becoming sticky and contaminated with food, in the process, or the food will slide onto the container for the beverage, resulting in the same problem.
One solution to retaining the beverage container in a predetermined location on a food and beverage plate is provided by Doty in U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,297 (Doty). Doty improves the stability of the beverage container by providing a tray with a raised separator dividing a food area from a beverage container area. A pair of gaps are also provided in a sidewall of the tray so that the user may grasp the beverage container between a thumb and forefinger while supporting the tray with the remaining fingers of the same hand.
While Doty appears to improve the stability of the beverage container, the beverage container may still often become contaminated with food due to the limited height of the separator. The user, while eating, must also separately hold the tray with his other hand while drinking from the beverage container.
Another solution to the problem of supporting a beverage container on a tray is provided by Steven in U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,758 (Stevens). While Stevens appears to prevent contamination of the beverage by providing a higher barrier between a food portion of the tray and a beverage portion, the tray is limited to use with long-stem beverage containers. The Stevens tray also fails to provide a convenient method of grasping the tray while drinking from the beverage container.
Another solution to the problem of balancing a plate is provided by Finchum et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,787 (Finchum). Finchum provides a barrier, attempting to prevent contamination of the beverage container on a tray. Finchum also provides thumb placement regions adjacent a beverage container recess for grasping the tray.
While Finchum appears to provide a means for grasping the tray, the thumb placement region is not sufficiently centered to balance the weight of the food against the weight of the beverage container. Further, no provisions are made to prevent upset due to lateral movement of a user's thumb within the thumb placement region due to sudden imbalance of the tray.
Stability of a food and beverage plate is critical to its intended use. Doty, Steven and Finchum fail to address the issue of stability by failing to provide a comfortable or secure means of holding a food and beverage plate during the sudden imbalances that are to be expected in crowded social functions.